U.S. Congressmen request increased funding for Armenia, Karabakh

April 3, 2014 - 10:35 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), along with 27 members of Congress, sent a letter on Wednesday, April 2, to Chairwoman Kay Granger and Ranking Member Nita Lowey of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, requesting increased funding for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

In preparing the Fiscal Year 2015 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, the lawmakers are requesting that the subcommittee support increased funding for U.S. assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, Asbarez reported.

Specifically, the representatives are asking the subcommittee to direct the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) to spend at least $5 million in the fiscal year 2015 for humanitarian and development programs in Nagorno Karabakh and to ensure that at least $40 million in overall economic aid is appropriated for Armenia.

“We want to thank Congressmen Pallone and Grimm, and all their U.S. House colleagues who signed this letter, for helping to further strengthen the longstanding friendship of the American and Armenian peoples,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We value their support for each of these foreign aid priorities and, more broadly, for their continued efforts to promote peace, stability, and democracy in this pivotal region of the world.”

The group also requested that the U.S. close distribution gaps in need-based aid to at-risk populations in Syria, including Armenians and Christian communities, fund sustainable job creation programs in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, and suspend military aid to Azerbaijan until their government ceases cross-border attacks into Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia and agrees to settle regional conflicts by peaceful means.